


Easy Come Easy Go (old version, incomplete)

by RestlessRiver



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Childhood, F/F, F/M, Horror, M/M, Post-Canon, Psychological Horror, Sad with a Happy Ending, Survival Horror, Trans Male Character, Wakes & Funerals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:14:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24331915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RestlessRiver/pseuds/RestlessRiver
Summary: I am going to continue Consequence. Im stuck with a plot issue but I am brainstorming.NOTE Chapter one revised with more exposition(chapter one updated)This fic will be heavy.Ienzo has to go to say good bye to yet another parent. This is the third time for him. Something about being a vessel for Xehanort has left those who once held golden eyes to fall ill. Their hearts extremely damaged. Some seem to survive to an extent. Isa has been in a doll like sleep for 2 months at the beginning of the story.While Ienzo says good bye to Even, Lea hopes and prays that Isa and Xion will make it out okay.Ienzo works to try and save everyone and gets the feeling that Demyx knows more that he should.
Relationships: Ansem the Wise | DiZ/Even, Demyx/Ienzo (Kingdom Hearts), Demyx/Zexion (Kingdom Hearts), Ienzo & Lea (Kingdom Hearts), Isa/Lea (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note, I am not sure how to change the icons. This work (nor the prologue to Consequence) is not complete.
> 
> Further more, I have not yet decided if Isa is going to die. I would like to hear what readers think. The comment sway will decide things.

{1} (revised)

  
He wasn’t so used to cars. Something about them made the man nervous though, perceptive as he always had been, he could never truly put his finger on it. True, he now had fair reason to be nervous within the vehicle, but not due to traveling. 

Ienzo studied his reflection in the glass. His hair seemed so brightly blue today despite it’s usual stormy dullness. It was the overcast day he reasoned. He had no other reason to perceive such a bright color. Why then were his eyes so dull?   
  
Ienzo let his head lull on the glass, his hair bunching on the condensation from his breath against the cold.   
  
“It will be okay” his companion assured him. Ienzo nodded politely.  
  
Ienzo wasn't sure how he felt about the worlds re-merging. If he could only pick one reason why he hated it, it would be that it took so much longer to get where you were going now. You couldn't simply cut through space on a ship now. Travel over land and sea seemed contrived after the life he led.   
  
Though he had to hold his tongue over that didn’t he? To complain over it would be selfish. A scientist strives for progress, grasps for it until it is firmly in hand. The world’s remerginging into one was progress. That is how things were before light fell to darkness. It started with a key blade war and it ended with a key blade war. Their universe was healing itself. This is how it was supposed to be.  
  
This whole situation was so incredibly wrong. Never did he think he would find his only companion to seek solace in would be the very man who orchestrated his death under a different name. You could argue that they were not their nobodies a million times, and outwardly? Ienzo would agree with you. However, not so deep down Ienzo knew that he could never forget that this man driving the car beside him killed him and his family. Over and over Ienzo watched his family die where he was the last to fall. Ever since he was a little boy that is how it was. Part of Ienzo had come to expect it. That expectation made things so much sweeter when his loved one’s came out the other side allright. When his old mentor rejoined him, Ienzo was brought to the brink of tears just from seeing Ansem’s face smile down on him. However, good and bad were in a constant balancing act.  
It was of the many reasons he held tight to books. Books did not leave, nor did they die. Words printed in ink on paper and wedged together on a shelf never changed unless you actively took them apart. You control when their tale ends. Ienzo longs for that control.   
  
“I know what you are going through.” Lea tried to soothe.  
  
Ienzo turned away from him more, forehead against the glass and gut coiling with tension the bluenette knew he could not maintain.   
  
“Honestly Ienzo. I lost him- I know.” Lea continued.  
  
“Stop talking. Drive.” Ienzo spoke in an uncharacteristically gravelly voice.  
  
Lea winced. He did not however snap at the man. He was the same when he found out. The only thing different for Ienzo is that now they knew what was causing the deaths. Those who elected to be vessels were falling apart and dying. The standing theory now is that their hearts ended up too damaged. Nothing so revolutionary to explain their passing.  
  
When Lea watched Isa fall to the ground for the first time he had no clue why it had to happen.   
  
“Two years” Lea mumbled to himself.  
  
Ienzo bit his tongue.  
  
“I got two years with him” the red head’s hands gripped the wheel tighter.  
  
Ienzo pulled from the glass and glanced at Lea through his hair. “Isa is strong. Young. He may make it” Ienzo spoke hollowly.  
  
Lea winced again. “May…”  
  
Ienzo turned to face the windshield. “You haven’t lost him yet. He is not the first to find himself asleep for an incredible amount of time”.  
  
The car pulled to a stop at a light before a tunnel. Lea let his hands slip from the wheel. “I am supposed to be comforting you but I-”  
  
“Shh. I know. Just drive”.  
  
He is scared out of his mind Ienzo. Isa may indeed pull through. He thought. And Xion is so very young and has yet to show symptoms. The young may pull through.The bluenette’s eyes screwed shut.  
  
When the car started back up Ienzo pulled his knees to his chest despite it not being the safest position in a moving vehicle.. He knew what it was like to worry over a young loved one in all this...The blond flashed across his mind even now during the words exchanged.  
  
Ienzo also knew what it was like to have already lost someone to this terrifying condition.

* * *

  
  
Getting stranded was not in the plans. The rain poured heavily down on Lea’s back as he kicked a tire in rage. The jostling stirred Ienzo and he lifted his head to peer out the window. 

Red hair plastered to the man’s forehead. Ienzo’s eyes softened and he watched carefully. The rain muffled it well but he knew well the scent of tears when he smelled it. Lucky for him he kept his uncanny ability to scent, even as a human.   
  
Lea’s shoulders were tense and risen, the line from shoulder to shoulder almost completely straight. Another kick to the tire then Lea slunked to the ground, back against the sudan.  
  
A minute or so later had Ienzo slowly opening the door. He came out into the rain and pulled his hood over his head. He surveyed the car. The tire was deflating sure enough. Ienzo heaved a sigh and sat down easily next to Lea. 

The redhead had his head in his hands, fingers curled around the back of his cranial mass.   
  
Ienzo leaned back and watched the sky as it lit up with lilac electricity. “I am scared too.”  
  
Lea’s shoulders shook when he took in a sudden breath. Ienzo rested a hand on his shoulder and Lea didn’t budge.  
  
“Demyx is such a fool and he has never taken proper care of himself” Ienzo spoke evenly. “I am terrified.”  
  
Another sharp inhale.  
  
“And I think of Xion as a sister of sorts,” the bluenette added. “I did not mean to invalidate your fear. Forgive me Lea.” He spoke, squeezing his shoulder. 

They stayed like that for a good long while. When Ienzo felt Lea start to shake with cold under his hand he felt it was time to go into the town.  
  
Cold. He is shaking from cold. benefit of the doubt.  
  
“Come. We will get a hotel and find a mechanic and tire tomorrow.” Ienzo soothed, standing and pulling a napkin from a take out bag to write a note for the window.   
  
Lea stayed in the mud only a moment more before standing to tower over the small man. They each took a bag of belongings and only Ienzo talked for now, only when necessary.   
  
Quickly enough, the scientist found a suitable hotel on his phone and took Lea’s hand, leading him to the building. The rain dripping from their clothes to the polished floors was incredibly loud. The man behind the desk furrowed his brow at the two and moved to his computer to get them a room as soon as he could.  
  
Ienzo padded to the desk. “Apologies...car trouble and weather has a sense of humour.” Ienzo said gently.

The man swallowed and nodded. Normally he would be perturbed but their expressions incited empathy in the man. “How many beds? Two?”  
  
Ienzo nodded and the man produced their key card. The bluenette nodded his thanks and led the taller to the elevator.   
  
“You shower first. You were out there longer.” The scientist spoke with no room for argument. Lea simply nodded. Any sound he would have made was overshadowed by the elevator doors opening. 

  
They found their room quickly enough. Ienzo slipped the key card into the reader and opened the door for the lumbering redhead. Despite their agreement on the elevator, Lea slowly stalked to the closest bed and slumped onto it face first.  
  
Ienzo sighed. “I'll start running the water for you”.  
  
Lea grumbled a hum in response and Ienzo accepted that that was the best he would get from the man at the moment. He slipped to the bathroom but kept an eye on the other.   
  
His hair fanned out limp on the beige comforter, eerily red in comparison and dark with rain. He was not used to seeing Lea’s hair lack it’s meticulous styling and that compared with the dampy darkness almost made his hair look like blood. The man before him was a far cry from the one that once tracked the child thrust upon him across worlds.   
  
To be fair, that was different.  
  
Distance and illness are two different beings. Distance is much easier to close.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ienzo and Lea cope very differently.   
> Ienzo is not as grown up as he thinks and Zexion is not as far away as he'd like.

Lea stared at the wall of decorative tiles as the sea green glass became blurred with steam and his own hair fell over his eyes. He was still as rock, scalding water flowing over his back as if it were stone from a hot spring. His hand, red from the heat, traced the grout that held the tiles on their surface. His nails caught on cracks in the jewel tone glass and his hand stopped moving. He thought of the stand still. He thought of how this was the first time in years that he felt hopeless. All he could do now was wait and listen, pray the scientists at Radiant Garden could find out what was wrong and put an end to it. For nights on nights he would make something up to the kids and slip away to the hospital that housed the berserker. Lea would wait and listen for a change in his breathing, only to wake up and hope for Isa to have awoken...his face still peaceful and still.  
  
Lea has never hated seeing Isa peaceful more in his life. A couple years ago that was all he wanted for the man- but not like this. Green eyes closed, then a moment later they screwed shut to a painful degree. Lea grit his teeth and lay his forehead on the burning tiles. Any more rage and the energy from his hand would send the water boiling and send him to the hospital.   
  
The man tried to force himself calm, but when the image of Isa’s face still and sleeping on a hospital bed faded...his mind’s eye replaced it with Xion’s face.  
  
Red mixed with the water and the tile crunched in glass shards under his fist. Lea cried, quiet enough to be muffled by the shower at first but it soon grew louder. His uninjured hand trailer under his eyes when the upside down tears once marked his face.

 _“I thought you outgrew the marks under your eyes...you look like you need them”_  
  
He punched the wall again, and again and again. Those words had kept repeating in his head for months. If he closed his eyes tight enough they would lose meaning, they would just be syllables ringing in his ears but this gave him little comfort. He didn't want to lose the sound of Isa’s voice nor did he want to acknowledge why he wanted to hold onto the words.

It was clear to see though, Lea didn’t know if he would hear Isa’s voice again.

More syllables interrupted the mantra and he opened his eyes slowly. Not Isa’s voice. Ienzo’s. Lea strained his ears to listen. Ienzo had a habit of talking to himself and he knew it was likely just that. His eyes closed again.  
  
“Lea”  
  
He paused. “Yeah?”  
  
Ienzo pressed his hand on the wood of the door but did not open it. “I heard something break, are you all-” Ienzo paused. He is not allright. “Are you hurt?”

Lea grit his teeth and shut his eyes shut as far as they could go. “Go away” He said coldly. “I don’t want you to fix this for me. Go get ice or something. Food.”  
  
Ienzo grimaced and hardened his brow. He sees me as a child doesn’t he? Ienzo would not normally allow himself such a display of aggression. He had for the time since being recompleted, tried to be as gentle as he could be with anyone and everyone. The truth is ….he did hold such anger within him. Anger and guilt and even seething rage at times. More so than he ever did as Zexion. Zexion had the luxury of no heart to amplify darkness….funny thing to say isn’t it?

That nobodies, dark beings, were lucky they held no hearts to amplify dark emotions? Hearts that they longed for so dearly- but that was the truth of it. Hearts made you feel the good….and the bad. 

It was an adjustment period for all of them but more so for Ienzo. The others had been allowed to reach the edge of childhood intact, even if for two of them it was only to grasp the gates of adolescence. Roxas and Xion had no frame of reference to know how much they suffered and that in and of itself dulled the edge for them. Ienzo though, was a small child still suffering from one astronomical loss that left him mute when he turned.

Ienzo growled and slammed his olive hand into the wood of the door, pricking the tan skin to go pink. Emotions overwhelmed him at the best of times...that is why Ienzo wore the sweet smiling mask that Zexion had forsaken.

Lea hardly reacted to the violence. “Go...take a walk.”  
  
“It’s fucking pouring!” Ienzo responded with anger, thunking his forehead this time to the door with more force than necessary. “Whatever. Stay in there.” He grated out before slipping his head away and stepping back to his bed.

He rummaged through his bags with a disregardful swiftness he had not allowed himself since he was eighteen. Eighteen felt so long ago numerically yet the numbness was fresh. When Ienzo first learned of how close the threat was he feigned the numbness of being a nobody to cope just as Zexion feigned the emotions of a human. Ienzo could feel himself slipping back into that role now as he pulled out his head phones, phone and backpack. He didn’t bother to change if he was just going to get wet again. Ienzo toed on his boots without retying them and headed for the door, closing it with more force than warranted.

Lea grimaced when he felt the walls shake with the force.  
  
Once out of the room the bluenette ran. He ran through the halls and straight for the stairwell, too upset to wait patiently in an elevator. Boots squealed and squelched on the steps with the sopped in rain water as he sprinted up the stairs. Patreons surely were not allowed up on the roof but a perk of being an organization kid was being able to sneak into places that were not meant for you. When he reached the door to the furthest reaches of the building, he made short work of it. Easily, Ienzo forced the lock open without breaking it and swung the heavy metal door open.   
  
Ienzo stopped then, and just breathed in the mist of a storm just a door away. He felt the rain on his face when the wind changed directions. He saw the sky light up closer to him than he had seen in years. A small polite voice- Ienzo’s voice, hoped that he still remembered how to do this quietly in the back of his head. That was the only hesitation before the bluenette started to run again.

* * *

Lea cleaned the glass from his hand in silence. The only sharp sounds breaking the dull thrum of the hotel was the shards clinking to the tile while he worked them out with tweezers he stole from Ienzo’s medical kit. Momentarily Lea considered putting on music but the thoughts in his head were too loud and too many to be able to hear. He hadn’t meant to yell at Ienzo. Would he openly admit the guilt?....   
  
Lea shook his head as if to clear it and yanked a shard out cruelly, causing the weakening stream of crimson to pick back up in flow. He didn’t have time to worry about an ex colleague that was  _ supposed _ to be an adult now. He did feel sympathy for Ienzo ...but Even was old. He was old and broken and-   
  
“Covered in severe burn scars” Lea muttered to himself. The tweezers stilled. “I should call The kids” He breathed tiredly like he was simply out late at work and not stopped up from taking a man to identify and collect the body of his adoptive father.    
  
Lea knew that between the two of them they would figure it out sooner than he could hope for. Bandaging his hand loosely, the man made his way to find his phone and upon his second return to the bedroom proper Lea noticed the level of dishevelment that Ienzo would never tolerate with a clear head. The man groaned and smoothed his uninjured hand over his face. “That kid..”


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ienzo runs off for a moment to himself with out Lea.  
> Demyx is hiding things (when isn't Demyx hiding things in my stories?)  
> Isa is having a hard time with his dreams and best girl makes an appearance.

Ienzo faltered only slightly when his feet hit and slid on the stone of the building beside the one he leaped from. He stopped to allow himself a deep breath.  _ Slippery from rain. Take precaution _ He reminded himself.  _ Though true precaution would have been to stay inside...you are out of shape Ienzo.  _ He sat down and leaned against the gate-like structure circling the adjacent rooftop, no doubt another wing of the hotel but the man couldn't be bothered to check. The music blaring in his head thrummed from the head phones and drowned out the lightning that bathed the scene in periwinkle.

Ienzo fished out his phone and snorted at the irony that such a soft pastel would flavour something so dangerous as lighting. He laughed to himself at the absurdity of Larxene adopting such a gentle colour while being crudely reminded by his brain that his own hair bore some of the hue. Ienzo found himself unbothered by the revelation however. He scooted closer to the rain soaked floor of the roof so he could not be seen by the adjacent roof before turning his phone screen on.

“Oh, so you did respond” He mumbled with just the barest hints of aggression. His nails clacked at the glass of the screen with his typed reply. Ienzo typed, deleted and started over a few times until he felt he had something acceptable to send to the blond.

‘You remembered to eat today, correct?’   
  
Ienzo hit send and immediately regretted it. _You remembered to eat today? Correct?_. He winced and closed his eyes. That was far beyond the boundaries of their relationship but the bluenette wasn’t sure what was truly acceptable to make an idle response with. Current events?....He did not want to talk to Demyx about the illness. The reasons why were rich and marbled, dense like an aged roast of bovine, and much like the roast it lingered on the tongue in the way that cloying fat drippings did. 

His head thunked back into the cement wall and he let the rain plaster his hair to his face. Ienzo felt the cold water break in-between his shut eyelids like a cat slipping through the shadows to carry off the prey of their opponent. The drums in the track Demyx sent him set a pulse raising beat for the lighting to dance to. Ienzo could still see the flashes when they set off through his closed eyes. The electricity made the dark turn to bloody peach, forcing the man to acknowledge the pulse that flowed through him from his heart even in his thin fragile eyelids. He noticed then that his head was bobbing with the beat of the track and though this surprised him, he did not have the polite capacity at the moment to be surprised. The phone in his palm open hand buzzed and shook his fingers. Ienzo opened one eye to glance, his rain weighted hair dragging across his eye lid.

‘Pilaf’ Was the nocturn’s response, complete with a goofy emoji.

Ienzo smirked at the response. He hadn't known he needed a response so benignly happy. 

As Zexion he had mentally acknowledged that he did not see the use of Demyx….and even to this day Ienzo did not fully understand why he was accepted into the ranks. Butts in seats he supposed, the rush to fill the 13 quota. To nobodies he was a block to fill a gap but not much use beyond that on the surface. However….Demyx’s unique blend of quirks and personality had a somewhat medicinal quality to soothe the heart or perhaps even the soul. As a human he was infinitely grateful he had Demyx to talk to though he never truly expressed this. Doing so now would feel like the admission held too much weight all things considered. So Ienzo simply responded in kind.

  
‘There are other foods than just rice. I should cook for you-’ Ienzo stopped and backtracked.  
‘There are other foods than just rice, you should join us at the castle for dinner one night’. Much more specific….but lacking any connotations that Ienzo was not sure he wanted to immply. The bluenette hit send and closed his eyes again. Buzz.  
  
‘I dunno man’ glared back at the short man and made his chest feel as though he swallowed plaster. The begrudgingly relieved smile he wore faded and he winced.   
  


‘I did not mean to immply anything to make you uncomfortable Demyx’ He typed with hope that he didnt fuck up. 

‘No no- totally not it! I’d be down just uh...pescetarian remember?’ Demyx’s voice could be heard in Ienzo’s mind, like they were talking. Ienzo exhaled slowly and gripped his phone a little tightly.    
‘Easily accommodated provided you want to come visit. I could give you recipes. I would be happy to teach you what I can.’ Ienzo typed quickly.   
  
Demyx’s response was something expected and so benignly cheery that it made the bluenette forget things for a blissful while. The rain continued to pour down, the sound punctuating Ienzo’s nails on his phone screen. Eventually his hands started to shiver on the screen. Demyx had gone to bed and Ienzo settled to look up at the sky with the music beating crescendos into his ears. A smile spread on his face, rain dripping down his olive cheeks and collecting in his hair. Freezing cold in the rain and alone on a rooftop but for a moment he was happy. For a blessed moment, things felt normal thanks to the wind, rain, and blond. Evermore Ienzo’s complicated relationship with water deepened and grew multifaceted.

* * *

Trees were growing intertwined with the metal and wood holding the roller coaster track up. The young red head climbed his way up the mechanism despite Isa’s chidings not to. Lea balanced on the track and walked along as Isa followed from the ground below with arms crossed. 

“You are going to break something” The bluentte muttered.    
“It’s abandoned, no one will care” Lea rebutted with a smile, a flash of teeth behind a freckled sunny face. Isa scowled and looked to the pavement   
“I meant your bones” he said quietly.

Lea shook his head and started to climb the incline of the track. “I’ll be fine”. 

The moonchild watched his friend closely with worry yet his face remained stern. “How did you even find an abandoned carnival anyways?” he asked, kicking a stone “When did you have the time?”   
“Skipped class again. Don’t rat me out”    
Isa closed his eyes. “When have I ever ratted?” 

“Just making sure” He smirked. “Hey, I have an idea?”

“Oh no, call the scientists. They won't enjoy the prospect of a brainless monkey thinking” The bluenette teased with a chiding smirk.

The red head simply groaned. “Okay but hear me out”   
“Fine”

“Something has got to power this thing-”   
“Lea no”   
Lea groaned and looked down at his friend from the top of the first kiddie incline. “You didn't even listen to me”   
Isa glared back. “I don’t have to. I know you and I know where this is going.”   
  
Isa’s sleeping form winced. A small pained sound dribbled from his mouth. “Its...dang..” He winced again. “Dangerous...L...ea”. 

The room was eerily silent. Dim save for the lights of the city trickling in through the not quite shut curtains. A line of yellow light illuminated a strip up the suffering man’s face. A cold sweat broke over the man’s skin, growing paler and paler. 

The young Isa yelped and broke out in a mad run when a support beam groaned dangerously under Lea’s feet. Isa was fast, very very very fast but the beam was weak with age, and it splintered faster than Isa could run. The track crumbled under the red head and he tumbled down, splintered wood tearing his clothes and stopping his fall momentarily. He got caught on a particularly thick shard of wood and dangled there, swaying side to side with his arrested momentum. Isa started to climb and the wood gave out soon after Lea stopped swaying. Redhead clattered into bluenette and they both came tumbling down to the ground. 

Lea landed on Isa in a crumpled heap. The moon child yelled out in a weakened cry of pain, back going rigid. Lea scrambled off of him with green eyes wide. The red head tried to pull his friend to his feet and slowly Isa stood but not without struggle and pain. One eye winced shut, he looked the red head straight. “One day you are going to have to listen to me”. 

The breath Lea had not known he was holding came out in a dam break, shoulders dropping. He pulled Isa close and put his arms around him to support him on the walk home.    
  
The sleeping adult winced as if with phantom pain. He called out in weak sleep dreary whispers for his missing companion. The pale moon overlooked him from her place firmly in the sky during Lea’s absence. Isa’s dreams continued to plague him with memories from the calm before the storm hit them right in the blind spot.   
  
Xion’s brows furrowed further and she found herself having trouble shutting the door. Too much flooded her mind all at once. The phone in her jean’s pocket kept buzzing with texts  from Lea and Roxas but she couldn't bring herself to answer them just yet. Her eyes remained glued on the sleeping man. Betrayal...she felt betrayal. Isa mumbled again in his sleep and she winced with empathy and fear.   
  
“Thank you for taking me here” She spoke quietly, her voice holding something a little too murky.

Demyx turned his phone screen off after sending an excuse to Ienzo. He felt bad yes but he couldn't exactly be truthful. “Anytime. Ready to head back?” Demyx said, pocketing his phone.   
“...One more minute” Xion said, stepping back into the room. 

Demyx sighed. “Hurry...I don’t want to miss the train.”   
The raven stepped lightly back next to the berserker. She looked over him intensely, plethora of conflicting emotions intensifying when she was closer. Silently she pressed a peachy lion's paw shell into his weakly curled hand before she got back up. Xion stepped backwards towards the door.

“That’s your thing isn't it? Shells for the sleeping?” Demyx asked with a warm smile.

Xion nodded eyes still on Isa. This time she was able to shut the door.

  
  
  
  



	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas is an odd case. He reaches out to Riku for help.  
> Roxas sees Riku's face when he imagines the face of the enemy.

The worlds were still getting pieced back together. Some worlds still were a gumiship and trip through space away. Riku kept a hardened look to his brow while he listened to the man on the other end of the call. The silverette still could never relax with his ship on autopilot but he had no real choice, having to stare into the screen that flashed Vantias’ face back at him. Riku did not at all like what he was hearing but he couldn't argue with him. Hypocrisy would never be a mask the man would wear proudly.

“You aren't telling them anything?” It wasn’t much of a question. Riku was confirming what was said more than anything.

Vanitas smirked as if he was proud. He probably was. “Nope. Not like it affects them if I stay or go. Don’t tell me you don’t understand master brooder”.

Riku grimaced. He understood. Sometimes he could still feel the blindfold holding his eyes shut. “Yeah, I get it.”   
“So you’ll come get me?” Gold eyes smiled back at him. Something was off about them and Riku felt he knew what exactly it was. Vanitas had to be scared.   
Vanitas was lucky...he wasn't exactly human so the illness didn’t knock him on his back like it did with Isa and Even. That didn’t mean it wouldn't do away with him though. 

“Yeah.” Riku confirmed.    
“Aweee, my knight in shining armour~” The raven teased. 

Riku’s brow twitched. “Just tell me where I am meeting you.” 

“Clock Tower. Twilight town. Got pretty far on my own before my corridors gave out.” Vanitas admitted begrudgingly.

_ So his powers are dying…  _ “So that’s why-”   
“I need a ship, yes.” Van nodded, the smile gone now.    
Riku nodded. “Well it isn’t a long flight from there to Radiant Gardens. Stay there”.

“About that- I’m not going to RA” Van said casually.

Riku’s foot started to tap impatiently. “Why not?”.

Van smirked that off smirk again. “I don’t think laying on my back would help me.”

Riku’s eyes squinted just a minute fraction. 

“I’d rather chill on the Islands. Give them space to worry about Terra.” Van said simply with a shrug like he was discussing the weather. “Don’t tell me you didn’t have the same thought, don't you qualify for all this?”   
“In a way yes...I do” Riku admitted.    
“Exactly! See, so we are in cahoots now. We understand each other.” Van sighed and leaned back on the bench, his face glowing with the setting sun on Riku’s phone screen. “This is how friends work right?”   
Riku groaned. “That isn’t exactly right.”   
Van opened one amber eye. “It’s not exactly wrong either.”   
Riku tapped his nails on the back of his phone. “I’d prefer allies.”

“Allies it is then!- By the way”

Riku groaned again. “What is it?” 

Van turned serious for a faint rare moment. “When you are here you might want to avoid the skate kid duo. Roxas hates you more than ever”.   
Riku felt his heart skip a beat. “Why more than ever?”

Van sighed and crossed his legs, taking an annoyingly long sip from his drink. Where he got the money to buy it Riku did not know. “He and Xion know something is up. Xion figured it out- I think, but she won’t tell him. Protect the cinnamon roll yeah?”.

“Get on with it Vanitas” The silverette grated, anxiety eating at his bones.   
“Roxas blames you. Don’t know how exactly but he does. When he imagines the face of the enemy he still sees yours. The blindfolded edition of course.” Vanitas admitted.

_ That was what I was afraid of _ Riku thought as his marrow went numb.    
Vanitas continued, inspecting his nails while he talked. “I don’t think fighting in the streets would help. Not that it would be your fault, I mean  **_I_ ** would know who attacked who but who ever believes me?”   
“How comforting.” The pilot sighed.

“You're welcome!” The raven chimed.

“I have to get off the phone so I can land.” Riku spoke, fists clenching at his sides.    
“Ah? Here already knighty? You said it would take a while.” Van said with a  _ whisper _ of genuine surprise.

“I thought I was flying to The Land of Departure.” Riku admitted.   
“Ha! Thought I was a punk baby sitting around to be saved? Thought I was twiddling my thumbs?” Vanitas laughed at him, finishing his drink.

“Just be ready. I’ll be landing in the forest by the mansion.”   
Van nodded with the information. “In that case” he got up and stretched “I will meet you there.”

“Fine” Riku nodded, shutting off his phone. “....Fuck where is he going to live” Riku muttered to himself as he took the wheel.

Vanitas pocketed his phone and watched the people down below. The rooftop garden he has been hiding out in was nice but it was time to leave. He  _ could _ just jump down into the crowd and scare everyone but he had a time limit didn't he? No time for fun…  _ Living with RiRi is going to be a drag isn’t it. _ Vanitas laughed to himself. The raven adjusted his bag over his shoulder and untangled the chains clinking down from his belt loop. His face softened when he caught the tell tale sound of a skateboard sliding down a railing.

Van looked over the edge of the roof again, watching Roxas silently while he lost his concentration. The boy slipped, the skateboard clattered to the ground and he caught himself on his hands and knees. The blond took only a moment to recover before growling and punching the ground. Vanitas could feel the phantom pains in his own left hand. Blood pricked at Roxas’s knuckles. Van’s kness burned. It wasn't as sharp and raw as with Ventus but it was there. “Heh...wonder if I can get the bookworm to sever the ties. Might be nice to feel only my  _ own pain _ .” The raven hummed with a smile. Vanitas took a step towards the edge of the roof. He chucked his fresh popsicle stick in Roxas’s direction then stepped back so the blond wouldn't see him. Roxas was a ways away but he could hear Roxas mutter clear as day.    
“I don’t feel like a winner!”.   
  
“Me either kid.” Van hummed, heading for the stairwell of the building. The raven put his headphones on and started a brisk run down the steps. It was cold and crisp in the concrete cylinder. When he reached the door out he was greeted by angry blue eyes.

Roxas was practically growling. He shoved the stick into Van’s chest. 

“Throw out your own trash”.

“Sorry blondie” Van smiled.    
Roxas sneered “Did you think I didn’t see you?”

“Yep! Gotta go, see you around.” Van skirted around the other. “Hey! Put some ice on that- looks pretty bad.”   
“Don’t tell me what to do” Roxas muttered.   
“Fine then don’t. Disobey me, cool you got a brain of your own.” Vanitas waved, heading into the crowd. He got a good 6 feet away before Roxas spoke up.

“Wait”.

Vanitas rolled his eyes and groaned. “Whhhhat? What is it?”.

“Have you seen her?” Roxas asked, anger tempering.   
“Jenna Marbles? Yeah, cool-I wanna bleach plaid too.”    
Roxas looked up, brow raised. “No- who? No, have you seen Xion?”

Vanitas shook his head. “Nope! Not since last night”.

“I will kick you off the train tracks.” The blonde clenched his fists again.   
“Ironically that’s where I saw her. She and Demyx went somewhere. She should be home now. Ciao!” Vanitas waved again. He tensed ever so slightly, seeing a flash of color in the sky. He was incredibly thankful that Roxas was distracted. The raven broke out in a run before the blond could speak another word.    
  
Riku tapped his foot rapidly in the grass. He hated the risk of his ship being seen when the trip was unscheduled. He very much so still functioned with a covert brain like he still worked under DiZ. He heard Vanitas before he saw him. The raven dropped down in an expert kneel on the colorful metal of the ship top from a tree branch above.

Riku narrowed his eyes. “You could have just walked up to me.”   
Vanitas shook his head and swung himself into the open door by his arms holding onto the door frame. “Being followed. Unless you want to fight blondie you have to move it.”.   
Riku’s eyes widened with realization and he nodded without another word. He boarded his ship and shut the door, taking off as soon as he could.

Roxas was one minute too late. He was fast but Vanitas was faster. He reached the forests just in time for the wind blow back of the ship to push the bangs off his forehead. The boy glared up at the windshield, unmoving. Direct eye contact landed between blue and teal. Riku’s eyes held remorse. Roxas’s held rage.

“Hey! RiRi look where you're going!” Vanitas yelled from his space, plopped lopsided in a seat.

Riku nodded and pulled his gaze away.

Roxas didn't move until the ship became invisible in the sky.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was originally going to be short and focus on just Ienzo but I like where it is going.  
> Vanitas wants to bleach plaid. He is chaos. He is an Aries.  
> Please leave your thoughts and comments. It helps me decide who gets yeeted and who shall survive the yeetening.  
> Should Ven follow his shadow?


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Step back to the hotel room with Lea and Ienzo.   
> Ienzo's little detour had some costs. Laying back he thinks about why loosing Even hurts so much.

Bliss was slaughtered the moment Ienzo picked up the scent of blood. Lea pushed the stairwell door open with a haphazardly bandaged hand. Ienzo’s eyes opened like a sleeping man awoken by a scream. The shorter man exhaled slowly and silently, pulling his headphones from his skull and glancing over his shoulder to see the only glimmer of red in the dreary blue scene. Ienzo stood to give up the ghost and looked over to the taller man on the adjacent roof. 

Lea crossed his arms, letting out a groaning sigh. “Sitting out in the rain like a gargoyle.” He stated simply.

Ienzo remained unwavering. “I needed a moment. You've no room to talk”.   
“Well you had your moment. Get back inside please. I don’t want to think about what will happen if you die out in the rain like this. We have enough people to worry about.” The red head sighed, simply turning to walk back inside with a wave.    
Ienzo closed his eyes and let the words sink in. A glance down at his phone confirmed that Demyx had yet to say anything back to him. Ienzo looked back up at the stormy blue grey clouds and let himself have a moment or two more before heading for the stairwell on his side of the building. 

The trip back to the room happened in a daze. He did not know this wing of the building yet he had no issue finding his way, his nose guided him and he ran on autopilot. The bluenette opened the door and stepped into the shared space like a zombie. Lea looked up and pointed to the desk where some food he had picked up in Ienzo’s absence waited for him. Ienzo nodded his thanks and gathered some dry clothes before slipping into the bathroom to clean himself up. 

Lea made no move to stop the other man from finding the mess he had hardly managed to fix. The tiles on one wall of the shower were a wreck. Ienzo could tell Lea tried to get all the blood from the shower floor but traces remained. Bandage wrappers filled the waste basket. Ienzo stared at the scene for a moment, assessing the damage before he set his clean clothes on a counter that had escaped the carnage. Quickly, expertly, and just as much on autopilot as moments before Ienzo cleaned the remainder of the mess. Without consent from his conscious Ienzo had wondered; If nobodies left traces would Axel have cleaned Zexion’s blood away or leave it to stain the murky basement? The bluenette shook the thought from his head with a violent twist of his skull. 

The man stepped into the shower and made quick work of cleaning up. He bathed with the water colder than the rain outside, hardly finding reason to care. Ienzo emerged from the bathroom with the chill dispersing around him. 

“Your skin looks chapped…” Lea commented idly.   
Ienzo did not respond, opting only to pull the chair to the desk and sit down in front of the sub that Lea purchased for him. “Thank you for the food”.

Lea blinked. “Yeah...no problem”.

Ienzo ate in near silence, surprised he had any appetite at all.

Lea sighed heavily and laid back in his bed, flicking on the television. The dull thrum of soft static came to fill their ears before any dialogue or music did. It was a clunky old thing...oddly nostalgic all things considered. The soft glow illuminated Lea’s expressionless face. “Should have called Riku,” He said boredly.

“Mn?” Ienzo put down his food to glance at the red head.    
“Gumi ship would have been faster.” The red head clarified.   
Ienzo shook his head. “We have to adjust to the changes sooner or later”.   
Lea sat up some and looked at the younger man. Blue hair brushed on his clavicle, Ienzo was hanging his head. “You don’t want to get there do you?”.

Ienzo’s head hung lower, his arms crossed close to his chest. He had only just started to feel better and here the dam was breaking again. “I am sure you are able to deduce that on your own Lea”.

The red head tapped his finger on the back of the tv remote and looked back to the screen. “Fair enough. I won’t bring it up again tonight”.

“Thank you”.

* * *

They slept in exhaustingly late. Ienzo’s body felt heavy. Years of his nobody form had left him to take health and healing for granted. His chest felt like it was filled with ocean water. His nose felt pinched at the tip and he couldn't smell a damned thing aside from his own scent. The scientist’s stomach churned and his bones sunk as if they were made of lead.

A violent sneeze wracked his form and startled Lea to open his eyes.

“God fucking dammit kid” Lea muttered with his eyes locked on the ceiling. 

Ienzo grumbled weakly and rolled to his side, curling up with a pillow clutched to his heavy chest. He winced when Lea sat up and pulled himself from his bed. The sound deafened him and Ienzo begrudgingly acknowledged in his head that his little escapade last night had made him ill. 

“Well we missed check out anyways. Stay here, I’ll pay for another day and we...will figure things out”.

Ienzo nodded weakly and reclosed his eyes. With his nose gone his major sense was nulled and he was left completely surprised at the cool hand pushing his bangs back. Lea whistled and placed a hand to his own forehead for comparison. 

“I'm picking up a thermometer too...You would know better than I do what medicine you need”.

Ienzo’s olive hand, drained of blood and life poked out of the covers in the direction of a notepad on the desk. Lea read the body language and swiped it up to hand it to the sick man. Ienzo took it and wrote down the names slower than normal. Lea squinted at his hand writing.    
“I didn’t know you were left handed”.

Ienzo looked up at lea. “We never spent much idle time together where it would have come up”.

Lea pursed his lips and brushed the past aside. “Fair enough. Hang tight”.

The red head gathered what he needed in silence and left the scientist to his own devices. With the click of the door lock Ienzo laid back on his back. 

The man winced and reached under his shirt to trace the edge of the thick fabric with a cold finger. He mentally debated it for a good moment. Ienzo knew he shouldn’t have slept in his binder in the first place but he did not find fondness in the idea of coming out to the man that once had him killed. It wasn’t much of a luxury to ponder now though. His nose clogged and already reduced to breathing through parted lips, the man knew keeping his binder on during recovery would not fair him well. He slowly sat up and peeled off his soft t shirt, shivering when the cold air hit his fever flushed skin. 

Ienzo sat there for a good long moment, the shirt still looped on his wrists. The small man’s back was arched like a forlorn cat’s. He could feel his hair tickle his clavicle. Bright blue eyes looked down and scanned over his own chest.

“The sooner I take this off, the sooner I get back under the covers” He muttered to himself. 

Carefully Ienzo did eventually wrestle the binder off. He winced and even allowed himself a minute cry when his chest was free of the restriction. It felt as though someone had punched him square in the upper ribs. Eyes tight shut he wondered what it was like for someone dealing with more to bind than him. He was luckier than most and he acknowledged that, but not so lucky that he could go without and feel no dysphoria. The man rubbed blood flow back into his upper body, silently acknowledging that he may be wearing the wrong size. It would matter less if he still had Even’s support. If the blond were still around then Ienzo could go ahead with surgery with no fears.

His guardian never wavered in his decision about top surgery. Xemnas would never have allowed Zexion that much time off to get the procedure done, let alone recover properly. Going into the field with that major of a surgery was out of the question. Vexen was many things, but medically neglectful for his dependent he was not.

It was an odd situation. One that Zexion found himself resenting Vexen deep down somehow despite all the factors involved. Ultimately though he understood why. Zexion suddenly becoming useless for field missions for any extended period of time would have put a target on his head...or rather it would have enlarged the targets already there. It was already a point of dispute since Zexion refrained from combat whenever possible.

Even was an odd guardian. Stern. Strict. Ienzo would get scolded harshly for any lazy mistakes in his education. Even however also accepted Ienzo. He picked up on the behaviors. He talked to Ienzo with the intent of understanding. From an early age Even was aware of his child’s dysphoria. He accepted it. Helped the child become comfortable with himself. He found him his name through old records. He had spent hearts knows how long looking for the list of possible baby names Ienzo’s birth parents had composed before he was born. The blond had presented the name to Ienzo and suddenly the child felt more open somehow, like he had taken off a soggy hood from his head.. The name was shared with the rest of the castle, Even allowing no room for dispute. 

Ienzo clenched his fists and stared intently at the woven threads of the comforter covering his thighs. 

Even helped him and Vexen did what he could. The blond let Ienzo start hormones as soon as it was possible and safe. Even as a nobody, identity still found a way and so did dysphoria. Even if it were based in memories it was still there. Ienzo remembered the nights that Zexion would lay for bed and try to calculate how long it would be until their hearts were restored. The promise of returning to life as a human kept his going as it did the others. Vexen’s word that Even would be there for Ienzo when he went in for his surgery beat against the back of the man’s skull as his sight blurred.

The threads of the fabric before him grew hazy and he screwed his eyes shut again. Retrospect hurt. Everything he did to help him and protect him and Zexion spent years numbly resenting the man that Ienzo did not get a chance to say thank you to. The man that Ienzo would call father now if he had the chance.

  
  
  


  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Ienzo being trans is a deal breaker for you then this is not the story for you.


	6. 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Super short chapter this time. Sorry about that.
> 
> note: this is not the same Chirithy that Sora came across but it is a Chirithy of someone we know and whom was in the console release games.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even can see all.....when Chirithy shows him.

The man could feel his bones freeze over from a blizzard and hardly quirk a brow. Wind whipped at his thin form like a scourge overtaking the weak, but the man’s determination had more bite than the squall could ever dream of. Returning to his ancestral home land was not easy from an emotional standpoint but in execution Even was fine. So he thought. The scientist had considered the fact that he would not return, but after the life he had led, death lost it’s meaningful edge.

Death did not seem to hold a candle to anything after you have been burned alive and returned to tell the tale. 

If the Even of the current could warn the Even of then, the man would leap at the chance. 

No.

Do not do this.

You will force your child to travel across the world with his former murderer just to collect your cadaver.

To retrieve your corpse before he has ever really accepted that you are dead.

You fool.

You imbecile.

Do not orphan him again.

Do not betray Lord Ansem again.

Do not forget life for knowledge again.

Hindsight is 20/20

The Even of current, standing on a ground that merely reflected the sky back at him with blinding radiance closed his eyes and crossed his arms at his own foolish demise. The little jingle and paw falls padded along beside the blond. Even glanced down at the cat like a dream eater but had nothing to say. His death kept replaying in his mind.

“He will be okay” The chirithy offered with confidence.  
  
Even nodded gently and held his chin in thought. Then he closed his eyes again to view the storm of his last moments, hankering to find the pivotal point that had doomed him.

Even remembered the ice crystals forming on the pages of the books he stole with such vividness that he started to absentmindedly scratch his fingers to rid them off the phantom pain.

“Enough of that” The cat said gently.

“I cannot sit idly as if nothing has happened. I need resolution” Even answered. 

Chirithy sighed and rubbed their head with thought. 

“Would seeing him cheer you up at all?” They asked.

“Perhaps”

* * *

When Lea returned Ienzo was a small, curled up, and still heap under the blankets. The redhead looked him over and slowly shut the door so he wouldn’t wake him up. The bags in his arms crinkled as he walked and Lea’s face scrunched with each step as if he was in pain with every noise the plastic and paper made. 

Ienzo moaned softly in his sleep with the sounds but he did not wake up.

Lea set down the bags and sighed a near silent sigh to release some tension. Green eyes scanned backover to the blue mop hardly peeking out from the thick hotel blankets. Lea pulled the covers back slowly and brushed the hair from his face so that he could press a palm to Ienzo’s forehead again. Lea took a moment to gauge his temperature before pulling the covers back up. The red head stepped back to go to his bags and collect something for the other when his foot caught on thick discarded fabric. Lea vaguely recognized the article of clothing and picked it up. His hands unfurled the garment and he tilted his head at what appeared to be a sports bra. Choosing to ask questions later, he folded it in half and set it on the bed side table. Lea then turned to his bags and produced a cooling pack for Ienzo’s forehead. 

* * *

Even winced while he watched through the small glancing pool. There was something so incredibly wrong about watching Lea tend Ienzo while he was sick. Like watching a vulture comfort a dying meerkat. It made Even’s face contort. Made his hands tense then clench. He had forgiven Lea far but not as far as to be comfortable with this. Lea’s indifference, or rather _perceived_ indifference to Ienzo’s gender lended Even some comfort but not enough to negate everything. The chirithy bowed their head, unsure showing the man his mourning loved ones so soon was really good for him. Perhaps the cat should have let him keep replaying his death over and over….no. This was bad but that was worse. Still, with the Chirithy’s worry the little pool grew smaller and smaller. Even looked to the cat for an explanation.  
  


“I think maybe that is enough for today” They said gently.

Even sighed and turned for one more glance at his son before the pool vanished.

  
  



End file.
